Hey Yall!
This week we have had a ton of cool, scary, awkward, and everywhere in between stories!
This week has been so good! It started on Monday with a lesson that we taught. There was a random lady that called our church and told the clerk to go and check on this lady named Shaylon. Her whole life is basically falling apart. She was trying to find food for her family, keep her family underneath a roof cuz she cant pay the bill, while her car doesnt work and keep a job as well as trying to survive herself. We did all we can to help her physically, but just as 2 Nephi 9:39 says, "...Remember, to be carnally minded is death, and to be spiritually minded is life eternal." So we taught them the Restoration and worked on their spiritual mind of things. You could feel the spirit so strongly and we were able to set a baptism date with the entire family of 5, the mom, and 4 kids. We went back on Thursday and she wasnt there, her cousin from Tupelo was there though. He is staying in Madison for a couple weeks. Well we asked if we could teach him and he let us right in! So we taught him the Restoration and set a baptism date with him as well! Its so cool to see how the humble ones accept our message because they know that itll help them.
We were able to go on a blitz with the Madison 2 Elders. I went with Elder Barben and it was a good day. We tracted and talked to people if they were outside. We got maybe 1 return apt but we still worked hard and did our job. The Lord maybe didnt need or want us to have instant success but those missionaries will be blessed for what we did and our efforts to find. Then we had zone conference. I will tell you about that at the end of this email. But we had a really cool experience afterwards. We took the Cullman Elders back to Cullman then came back to Madison. Well we had about 20 minutes before we had a dinner apt with a member. So we decided to tract right by the members house for a little bit. As we went to the first door, there was a pretty big black man that said he didnt want to pray with us tonight. So we left and knocked the next door, that lady had the same response, but we kept going with a positive attitude determined to find one person before dinner. Well as we walked back to the sidewalk, the man at the first door yelled and told us to come back. So we started walking back and he invited us in. He told us how he had told his wife that there were two boys at the door that wanted to pray and how his wife responded, "You never turn down a good prayer!" She then told him to hunt us down and to come back. We prayed for a few family members and friends that were in need. Then told them that we share a message of hope as things in life seem dark and gloomy. They told us they wanted us to come back. We will be going back this week to teach them.
Then the next day we tried to follow up with a family we have been teaching and hadnt seen in a week and a half. Well they still werent home. So we asked a neighbor if they still lived there. She said yes and told us she would have them call us. Well later that night the husband, Roosevelt, called and said that he had been having a hard week, and didnt have any money for gas and his wife would be stuck at work 30 miles away from her house at 1 in the morning. So we met him at a near by gas station and filled up his car with gas. He was so grateful, we also talked with Pres Noland to see if we could help him get a job so that he can help his wife out. We are still in the process of helping him do that. Well we asked him if we could come over saturday and he said yes. So saturday rolled around and we went down to their house. This is where the TOAST experience came into play. We got there and talked with the wife and kids and she sent her kids up to the neighbors house where he was. He still never came down so she ended up going up herself to get him. I guess he had been pretty mad at her and when he came back down wasnt happy at all. They sat in front of us and yelled at each other for about 10 minutes before I jumped in and told Roosevelt to go back to his friends house. We talked with Carine, the wife, to help settle her down. They are going through a hard time right now in their relationship and financially. We told her we could come back another day when things are better and talk to both of them and set goals of how they can improve and help each other instead of tearing each other down. It was a very toasty situation for a while though...
The last thing I want to share is 2 really cool emmaus experiences I had this week. One was in Zone Conference. President Hanks had did something very crazy but it put things into perspective. He told us that one of the 12 apostles denied the truth and went public with it, that another one of the general authorities committed adultery and murder, that there was massive resignations at the church office building, and that there were many people leaving the church over gay rights and women holding the priesthood. Now the last two are true. The first two arent true today, but technically the first one is the apostle Peter who denied Christ 3 times, and the 2nd was king David and Bathsheba. This exercise helped me realize where I stand with my relationship with Christ and if my testimony is strong or not. I want to tell you that I felt the spirit really strongly as I contimplated one of the Lords Apostles denying the truth. I felt the need to rise up! I felt that I need to be better and do more to show people that I am a true disciple of Christ. I want to tell you right now that I made the decision in that meeting that I am all in to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I will not falter, leave, or get close to falling out. My tesimony is in Christ the Lord and the Atoning powers that made it possible for us to be here and have the truths we have and not in a man, though I love and respect the men that the Lord has called. I will never doubt that. In my patriarchal blessing it says that when I return from my mission I will have a testimony that will be mine forever. I feel like every day I have worked so hard to do that. And it was so cool to notice for a little moment how strong my testimony is. It hasnt always been like this and its something I struggled with, being put on the spot and in that situation I now know what team im fighting for. I will stand by the Lord to the very end and never ever leave. I want to challenge yall to think of if one of the quorum of the 12 left the church, what would you do? Who do you have a testimony in? If your not far enough into the church youll fall out. Be so far in that you dont even think of falling out. I know that yall will be right by my side fighting for the right and truth! Let us stand together for Christ!
The other emmaus experience I had with studying is in 2 nephi chapter 9, which is now one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. its in verse it talks about those who are righteous and faithful and Endure the Crosses of the world and despised the shame of it, they will inherit the kingdom of God. I looked at the footnote and it took me to Luke 14:27, But the whole thing is in verses 25-33. Vs 27 says, "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be called my disciple." He also talks about those that do not forsake all cannot be called a disciple. I have thought alot about that recently. Especially bearing the crosses of the world, and bearing our own crosses. In missionary work we have to bear a lot of different crosses, but the Lord wants that. He needs us to do these things, and despise it not, so that we can be humbled and rely on him! If we dont bear our crosses and just give in then he cannot help us. If we dont have any crosses he will never be able to help us. He asks little, then helps us through all of it! The Lord wants to help us but we need to be willing to allow him to do so.
This week has been great! I cannot wait for another great week. Each day it seems now that as I go out and work its a good day. Even those days that are hot and humid, when no one answers, and you feel like your gonna die, you get to experience a little of what Chirst went through. I love doing missionary work. Time has been flying way to quickly for my liking and I feel urgent to do all i can. I love you and hope you have a great week!
Remember to be steadfast in Christ! Remember to be happy!
Love Elder Hall:)
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